CEBL expanding regular season next year

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This article was published 26/06/2024 (747 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Canadian Elite Basketball League is expanding its regular season to a 24-game schedule in 2025.

But does bigger mean better?

Growing fan interest across the league and improving television exposure suggested the time was right.

“It was sort of a natural evolution,” said Sea Bears owner David Asper, whose club leads the CEBL with an average of 8,477 fans through five home dates at Canada Life Centre.

“The question is, are we ready for it? Because we’ve got to be careful about timing and I think that all the indicators this year show continued growth. We’ve always known that we would need to expand our footprint somewhat. And we just decided, let’s try it sooner rather than later.”

CEBL teams will play an additional four games in 2025, up from the 20-game format currently in place. With those added games, the season would start approximately one week earlier in May and conclude two weeks later in August.

The timing of those early and late games is crucial to the CEBL, which relies heavily on European pro leagues and the NBA G League as a source for many of its players.

“There’s a window that we have to manage pretty carefully,” said Asper, whose club will host the CEBL’s Championship Weekend next summer. “We’ll see what happens next year, but I think I think it’s probably the right time. Our sponsors are definitely asking for a larger footprint and I think our fans want it knowing that the way the season evolves, with no pre-season, it takes a few games for teams to get into a rhythm.”

If at all possible, CEBL commissioner Mike Morreale wants a schedule that doesn’t overlap with European leagues or G League. But adding more games is a big lure, meaning more revenue for owners, improved pay for players, more games on national television and additional sponsorship opportunities.

“I think the 24 is a very comfortable number — the players are comfortable, the owners are comfortable and the fans have really asked for it,” said Morreale. “So it’s it’s our chance to be able to deliver.”

The 10-team CEBL, which began in 2017, has five franchises — Saskatchewan Rattlers, Ottawa BlackJacks, Montreal Alliance, Niagara River Lions and Brampton Honey Badgers — that remain under the control of league founder Richard Petko.

Morreale is working to diversify that ownership group.

“We’re close,” said Morreale. “We have conversations going in every market. Some are more advanced than others but I can say reasonably there’s an opportunity to move a couple teams (to private ownership) prior to the start of next season or as soon as we possibly can.”

Expansion could also impact the league in time for the 2025 season. Morreale has been in discussions with Quebec City for team with interest also coming from Kelowna, B.C., and Victoria.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca